Zhou Kui invested in interactive communication and was founded in 2000, but it seems too slow to be a star company. But Zhou Kui values not only its business model prospect as a rich media advertising platform. Just copy the American model and do online marketing. After discovering that "this road is impassable", I switched to rich media advertising, but I experienced setbacks because I entered the business too early. This venture capital company did not give up, but was able to put down the shelf of a technology company and transform itself into a service and marketing company from "learning how advertisers wear glasses and suits". It is the advantages in marketing and service that make interactive communication rank first in the rich media advertising industry. "The regular meeting system of the interaction between the four places is to understand the global innovation trends and innovative cases, and the second is this key element and development focus. Let's share the experience of this innovative model, not just learning, because there are more and more opportunities in China. Some innovations in China have inspired the whole world, and entrepreneurs in China are becoming more and more attractive. " -Zhou Kui explained the interactive regular meeting system in the four places.
"Seeing the inspiration of Web2.0, I feel that the Internet has gradually extended from the information platform. More and more personal home platforms have been established, and it is a good way to exchange information with each other, paying great attention to the community. In particular, interaction plays an important role. " -Zhou Kui is optimistic about community development.
Shen Nanpeng, the founding partner of Sequoia Capital China, commented, "On the surface, you may think that Zhou Kui is not the kind of person who is eager for quick success. However, as a venture capitalist, he has two characteristics. First, he is thoughtful and pays attention to details. When many investors are easily excited by appearances, he can remain rational. At the same time, he is very open. Will not lose the ability to seize opportunities. Many people are talking about the ability to find a project, but the final measure of venture capitalists is the judgment of the project. This is what Zhou Kui has. "
Zhang Fan, another founding partner of Sequoia China, said: "When we found Zhou Kui in 2005, we felt that he had done a lot of homework for the possible take-off points of each industry in the next three years and whether the specific projects were cheap or expensive."
Sequoia China invested in community websites such as Qihoo, UUSEE, 5 1, Dianping.com, etc. In addition, they also invested in interactive communication and WAP to provide technical services for online advertising sales. Sequoia hopes to discover the customer needs and value of community websites through new technologies and provide online sales solutions for Internet companies.
Sequoia Capital is one of the most famous venture capital companies in Silicon Valley. Invested in Yahoo, Google, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Cisco and other world-renowned companies. Up to now, more than 500 companies have invested and more than 65,438+000 companies have achieved IPO. Its LP (limited partner) mainly includes well-known American university funds and private foundations.
In September 2005, Sequoia Capital China (hereinafter referred to as "Sequoia China") was formally established, and the first phase of Sequoia Capital China Venture Fund was established with a scale of 200 million US dollars. This time, Sequoia China has set up a new growth fund-Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund i. 。
In addition, Sequoia China has successfully raised Sequoia Capital China Venture Fund Phase II and Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund Phase I, with the scale of US$ 250 million and US$ 500 million respectively, and the fund life cycle is 10 year. Zhou Kui, director of Sequoia Capital in China, said at the "2006 Annual Meeting of University Moderators" that there are still many unsatisfactory places in search, and Sequoia Capital is very concerned about the community, especially the interaction.
Zhou Kui believes that after seeing the inspiration of Web2.0, I feel that the Internet has gradually extended from the information platform.
More and more personal home platforms with life have been established, and many things in real life have been moved to the Internet to launch a more exciting life on the Internet. There are still many unsatisfactory places in the search. This is a good way for us to exchange information with each other, so we are very concerned about the community. In particular, interaction plays an important role.
Sequoia Fund has a history of more than 30 years and was founded by the founder of National Semiconductor. The company has invested in a large number of companies in the chip era, and National Semiconductor is one of the investment companies. In the PC era, Oracle Bone Inscriptions was an investor in software applications and EA was an investor in entertainment. Zhou Kui said that Sequoia Fund is closely following the development of each wave and is the earliest investor in these industries. He thinks it is the entrepreneur behind the entrepreneur of Sequoia Fund, because Sequoia Fund works as hard as entrepreneurs. Zhou Kui believes that the first thing to be solved is what is the value service provided to users and what is your product. This will start a value chain. When you provide users with this service and product, what is your material? You have to find the needs of users, which is the first problem to consider when talking about business models. You can also pay attention to other users in China, which should be the most attractive user group. Because they change very quickly. Unexpectedly, demand has become a commonplace, which provides great opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Some companies with great value or good performance in the securities capital market must be very close to consumers.
Zhou Kui believes that it will be easier to divide the value chain and see which companies. It is not that it has the greatest chance, but that the ceiling is not very low, so it is an idea to be a more valuable company.
Second, consider that this is a scale. Although this business makes money, how can it be scaled up?
The scale cost is decreasing, which is typical here, such as Baidu, Google and Internet. Every time a user is developed, the cost is almost unchanged, with a slight change. The bigger the company, the more money it makes. There are also many negative examples around, which are great and can't see the rapid growth of value. This is the second link that should be considered. When you are big, it is not necessarily the biggest and most beautiful, nor is it the pursuit of big, but the pursuit of high.
Third, when it comes to big, Google and Baidu are also examples. Although they can't sell high prices online, they can become a company with great value. The third category is how to determine the price and how the enterprise constructs its own commercial profit. It may be an approval, it may be a patent, it may be the first chance. Zhou Kui is a chip factory with huge investment. I've gone far, and I still have people to cooperate with me. How does this enterprise view its pricing power?
Focus is an example, it can't guarantee the safety of enterprises, but when it forms a monopoly, how much the value of enterprises increases. Therefore, the acquisition of the company by Focus alone is so valuable that I believe it will pay off.
This is three links. It is valuable to users. How can you make it bigger and how to get money can also solve the embodiment of enterprise value. When talking about payment just now, here is actually an example. For example, for a company, it is said that content is king, yes, but at least a few years ago, doing (English) was still far from that little money. It is the operator who gives SP money. Actually, I don't know how much money to divide, because I can't see that figure.
Back to the enterprise we just discussed, and the community where online games are commercialized, the earliest online games were sold to members. Up to now, most of them are selling members. Suddenly, someone said that I sell props and members are free of charge. This is an innovation. You should seize this opportunity and time, and use some power, including the power of the network, to promote it and let it happen to you. Seize this innovation and accelerate the process of this innovation. Talk about the advertisement of online games again.
Actually selling props is advertising props. Can you sell other things by selling props? In fact, it is also possible. Therefore, from this understanding, it does not mean that any business model is better than any other business model. Excellent entrepreneurs, outstanding entrepreneurs, can very keenly capture the needs and reality of users.
Zhou Kui talks about investment: valuing the team fighting capacity of startup companies.
What kind of market environment is the current domestic mobile Internet market in? What principles should entrepreneurship adhere to in order to survive? A few days ago, a reporter interviewed Zhou Kui, a Chinese partner of Sequoia Capital, about the entrepreneurial upsurge of mobile Internet.
Reporter: What changes have taken place in the living environment of domestic mobile Internet startups? In this environment, how does Sequoia judge the project?
Zhou Kui: The environment faced by entrepreneurs is really difficult. Compared with the giants, it not only has much less resources, but also has stronger impact and faster winning speed. However, an idea is not enough to support its continued success. Therefore, when we choose to invest in mobile internet projects, we should not only judge the market opportunities, but also see how strong the team's combat effectiveness is.
In the market, it is very important whether users accept products and whether there are competitive barriers in the model. At the same time, entrepreneurs should try to avoid facing strong competitors such as Tencent from the beginning. In addition, because the domestic mobile Internet is still in its infancy, there will be many changes in the future, so we require the team to have strong adaptability.
The basic value orientation of entrepreneurship is basically: useful to users, if this can't be done, don't do it; Whether a startup can develop depends not only on the right direction, but also on skills and speed. Although big companies want to do everything, they also have neglected places and their own weaknesses, which are good starting points for entrepreneurs.
However, the temporary neglect of the giants does not prove that they will not do it in the future. Therefore, for startups, it is necessary to run hard, desperately occupy the market, and let users stay. In the end, users should make choices, so entrepreneurs need to make their products better than any competitors.
Reporter In your opinion, where does the pressure of startups come from in the field of mobile Internet? Compared with big companies, what advantages can they play?
Zhou Kui: The outline of mobile Internet is clear, but the market is still relatively early. For giants and startups, each has its own advantages. Big companies have advantages and disadvantages. For example, in large companies, departments are divided into factions; Large companies will not act as quickly as startups when they see opportunities; At the same time, it will not break the existing rules and regulations without scruple like startups. Therefore, large companies generally make choices according to changes in the market. Every time they make a choice, they will leave another way for entrepreneurs. In this regard, entrepreneurs need to be more diligent, and their potential will be more easily stimulated.
The pressure faced by startups mainly comes from three aspects: First, it comes from product capabilities. If users don't like what they do, there is no chance; Secondly, the marketing ability, whether the product can be quickly pushed to the target users, directly tests the marketing ability of entrepreneurs; The third is the determination, endurance or endurance of entrepreneurs. If you can't win the war, you won't fight? The battle is fierce. Should we still fight this battle? The answers to these questions require entrepreneurs to bear great competitive pressure.
Reporter: The Internet environment is entering the down cycle. How does Sequoia grasp the investment rhythm? How to treat the future trend of giant mergers and acquisitions?
Zhou Kui: Although the overall environment is not good, in the field of mobile Internet, we still have to look at the long term. Sequoia has been very active in this regard and will invest once it sees the right project. Although the change of environment and the follow-up of big companies will make the good projects in the market less and less, there will always be new opportunities to brew and grow in the market. In fact, entrepreneurs are always the most diligent, and they will start soon when they smell market opportunities.
In our view, in the field of mobile Internet, M&A opportunities tend to increase, which is normal. For entrepreneurs, success does not necessarily require their own independent listing, and this awareness is increasing. For large domestic companies, although they have been actively investing, they have not yet started active mergers and acquisitions, but the pace will certainly accelerate. Innovation needs speed, and domestic giants will behave more and more like Facebook and Google.